


#146 Love, Kanagawa

by allicya, baekedaelights



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 12:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20675705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allicya/pseuds/allicya, https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekedaelights/pseuds/baekedaelights
Summary: Two best friends, Baekhyun and Jongdae, went to a city in Kanagawa, Japan for an exchange program at one of Kanagawa's local universities. They came there early, decided to explore the new place first and as they discovered more about Japan, they somehow discovered more about themselves too.





	#146 Love, Kanagawa

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the mods for accepting me and this fic even though I only claimed this prompt months after the deadline. I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity. 
> 
> To the prompter, I hope this is good enough. Japan is such a beautiful place, and I can’t pass the opportunity to promote Japan when I saw your prompt. It’s hard for me to pick a place at first, but Yokohama always reminds me of baekchen for my own personal reason thus I’m choosing Kanagawa for your prompt. 
> 
> Every place that I mention in this fic exists, please google them while reading, words will never be enough to describe the beauty of our nature.

"Wow, we survived the journey from the airport." Baekhyun said, finally laid on the futon mattress. After a few hours trying to figure out the subway, they finally reached Fujisawa, one of the city in Kanagawa Prefecture, the place where they would study for the next 6 months.

  
"The subway map is a misery. Thank God you can speak Japanese a little bit." Jongdae sighed, as he pushed their luggage bags into an empty corner.

  
"That's what I got from watching anime since my birth and now you certainly can't say anything bad about anime." Baekhyun scoffed, staring at the ceiling. They were given 1LDK type of apartment by the university, meant that it was an apartment with one room, together with living and dining rooms and a kitchen. Small, but better than their dorm. Their room was equipped with a fan and an AC but the summer air was still giving too much heat so they turned on the AC.

  
Jongdae fished out his stuffs from his jeans' pocket and threw it on the other empty futon mattress beside Baekhyun. "Can't believe I'm agreeing to do this exchange program because of you."

  
Baekhyun turned his head to look at Jongdae and noticed the tired look on Jongdae's face. "Hey, Jongdae. Don't worry too much, we can make it together. Besides, I don't want to study here alone for 6 months without you, too boring. Of course I need to drag you too."

  
"You love Japan," Jongdae cut his sentence. "I'm literally clueless about Japan."

  
They arrived ten days earlier at Fujisawa before the registration day would be held, as advised by the university, so that they would have enough time to familiarize themselves with the area. They managed to arrive at their apartment before night and Baekhyun was practically very happy to finally arrive at Japan. A representative from Keio University already waited for them to give the key to their apartment, two SUICA cards for transportations preloaded with some thousand yen, plus two sim cards and a few pamphlets regarding Keio University and a detailed map of Kanagawa.

  
"We will take it slow," Baekhyun sat and reached for the bundle of pamphlets inside his backpack. "The people here seems friendly enough so let's discover the area tomorrow. The representative just now said that they already activated these sim cards and the university already put our allowances in the LINE Pay according to the mobile number of the sim cards. Here, there are instructions in Korean. So, we just need to spend the money carefully and try to not overspend. And we need to think what to eat now since I'm starving."

  
"You're still so full of energy," Jongdae smiled at Baekhyun while slowly relaxed his body on the futon. "Can we just grab the sushi packs or breads? I think I saw Lawson just opposite of this building."

  
"But we are just 5 minutes from Shonandai Station. We can literally go to everywhere," Baekhyun pouted but then he realized that Jongdae could drift away to sleep anytime soon due to tiredness. "Fine. But tomorrow we must go to Yokohama after we visit Keio University."

  
"Excuse me but we have literally 6 months to explore Japan? Why must we go to Yokohama tomorrow? Yokohama will never run away from you, although if Yokohama can run I'll advise the city to run now." Jongdae replied back.

  
"Sheesh, you're no fun, Jongdae. We only have 9 days now to act like tourists before we need to start studying again, so there's no harm to start tomorrow anyway. Or we can start with Enoshima? It's closer and smaller so we have the time to look around after noon since on the morning we need to go to the campus first. They gave us pamphlets for a reason, Jongdae, not to be collected for decorations."

  
"Baekhyun, you can throw me any name of places right now the only name that'll stuck on my brain are probably Fujisawa, Yokohama and Tokyo. That too because we will live at Fujisawa for 6 months and because Yokohama and Tokyo are big cities." Jongdae whined, but he truly meant it. He was too nervous about the exchange program that he couldn't have the time to study about other places. Or be excited to travel.

  
"You're just tired, aren't you? I'm sorry if I overwork you with those bags just now." Baekhyun replied, now felt guilty to push Jongdae with his suggestions.

  
"Silly, I've no problem handling those bags. After all, you need to go ask for directions from the train officers." Jongdae quickly reassured Baekhyun. "Yes, I'm just tired. And I need to contact my family too, they must be worried now. Give me that sim card now and an hour rest and I can finally match your energy back."

  
Baekhyun smiled happily at him, handed him a pack containing the sim card and the paper with instructions. "Enoshima then for tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll be your tourist guide, free of charge!"

  
Jongdae laughed, somehow in awe that Baekhyun wasn't tired at all. "If I get lost, will you find me?"

  
Jongdae didn't mean anything heavy with that sentence, but the way Jongdae looked at Baekhyun with so much hope made Baekhyun's heart skipped a beat. Funny. 

  
"You have a Japan sim card now, moron. I can just call you to know where you are if you get lost." Baekhyun answered nonchalantly, but his heart still acted funnily. Was this the effect of Japan's air? Or was he actually tired too and only realized it now? 

  
"Wow. You sound like you'll just let me lost in this place."

  
"Please, you're a grown up man. Use the translator or go find a Korean restaurant for help. But of course I'll find you. I don't want to answer to some police or international officers just because of you. It'll be easier to find you than that."

  
"Are you sure you can find me?" Jongdae laughed. "I should test your 5 years of knowledge about me here."

  
Baekhyun just rolled his eyes and laid back on the futon. He never lost Jongdae, literally and figuratively. He knew Jongdae would be there for him, and he knew where Jongdae was with his instinct. "Finding you for me is faster than the whole duration of Finding Nemo."

  
Jongdae didn't reply, probably too busy navigating his phone, leaving Baekhyun alone in his thoughts. Baekhyun always had these funny feelings for Jongdae for a while, he did consider to go to hospital for a checkup. Maybe Jongdae had some weird statics that influenced Baekhyun's heart. 

  
They were best friends for years already, they were so comfortable with each other. They went to dates, of course with another people, but never had anything serious, which both said was another reason why they clicked so much, both weren't serious with other people, saying they still didn't want to be tied down yet. But Baekhyun couldn't bare the thought of 6 months away from Jongdae, his insecurities were so big, that he literally begged Jongdae to submit the exchange program form together with him despite knowing that Jongdae had no intention at all to go to Japan. And sweet, sweet Jongdae would always do what Baekhyun wanted no matter how reluctant he was.  
Because Baekhyun was his best friend.

* * *

They managed to reach Keio University with ease, thanks to the university itself for giving them an apartment near to the bus station where they could just ride a bus to go to the campus. After they managed to found their faculty, they met the lecturer who was supposed to be in charge for the exchange program. The lecturer welcomed them cheerfully, and that made both Baekhyun and Jongdae to feel so relieved and excited to start the program soon. 

  
Jongdae now was a lot more happier too, and no longer in tense compared to yesterday. He did study the pamphlets that they received upon their arrival, and finally got the big idea about Fujisawa and the surrounding areas. The detailed map of Kanagawa was given to them so that they could understand more about the prefecture. 

  
They were now at Katase-Enoshima Station, with Baekhyun successfully persuaded Jongdae to go to Enoshima after they settled exploring the campus since it was only 7 stations away from Shonandai Station. It was freaking 12 pm in August and they needed to walk 1 km and more across the bridge to reach Enoshima Island, under the sun. 

  
They were walking steadily on the route, literally just followed some other group of people who they assumed were going to the island too, strolled between houses and some shops, and the island now was getting clearer and bigger to their eyes. 

  
“Jongdae, look! The sea!” Baekhyun shouted happily while pointing at the sea. 

  
“Seriously. You act like this is your first time seeing the sea.” 

  
“This is my first time to see the sea this close at Japan!”

  
Jongdae wanted to fight back, but upon seeing the smile on Baekhyun’s face, he fished out his phone and unlocked it. “Let’s take a selfie.”

  
Baekhyun immediately frowned, “No, take my solo picture first. Then we’ll take selfie together.” He then posed with the sea as the background, and his fingers created the V sign. 

  
Jongdae laughed, but he took Baekhyun’s picture anyway. 

  
“Let me see, let me see!” Baekhyun excitedly ran towards Jongdae. 

  
Jongdae tapped on the picture and immediately laughed, Baekhyun held Jongdae’s hand firmly to look at the phone too. 

  
“Seriously, Kim Jongdae. This is like 95% sea and sky, 5% me! Even my legs aren’t in the picture!” Baekhyun whined noisily. “Go stand over there, I’ll show you how to take a picture properly!”

  
Still laughing, Jongdae did walk to the spot where Baekhyun posed just now and finally made the best model face that he could. “Faster, Baekhyun. The weather is freaking hot.”

  
Baekhyun, who even kneeled down to find the perfect angle according to himself, used his own phone to take the picture. “Nice, Jongdae. You look like a model now.”

  
“Let me take a look!” Jongdae immediately went to Baekhyun’s side. “Baekhyun! I look like a ten years old children! I look short!”

  
“We are less than 175cm men, let’s make peace with that fact and deal with it.”

  
“I hate you. Your photography skills are no greater than mine.” Jongdae said and continued to walk towards the island. 

  
“Jongdae! I took another one while you’re walking! You look so cool!” Baekhyun shouted after some moments of peace, he ran towards Jongdae to show the picture. “Here, you look wonderful.”

  
Jongdae looked at Baekhyun’s phone and nearly threw the phone into the sea. “What is this? A gnome that looks like me? Let’s just ask other people to take our pictures.”

  
“Wait, wait! I brought a selfie stick. Let’s take a picture together with that.” Baekhyun said while taking out a selfie stick from his backpack. He mounted his phone on the stick and set the timer on the camera. “Jongdae, smile!”

  
Both of them posed for the camera and once the picture was ready, they both looked at the picture. “Wow, I guess you only look good when you stand beside me.” Baekhyun commented. 

  
“Excuse me yourself, you only look tall beside me because you’re 0.5cm taller than me.” Jongdae replied, then just resumed their walk. But both of them couldn’t deny that picture was the best, both of them looked so happy together, compared to their solo pictures. 

  
After another 5 minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the island. They were greeted with street of shops, the Nakamise Street, and lots of crowds who were visiting the island as tourists, just like them. And also another sloped path to climb. 

  
“Let’s go to Enoshima Shrine first. We need to pray for our studies.” Baekhyun suggested, while observing the map that he already downloaded on his phone.   
“I don’t remember seeing you praying at any temple in Korea but whatever. Let’s go there first.” Jongdae said, eyes wandered around the shops. 

  
Baekhyun nearly rolled his eyes, if it wasn’t for the public place they were currently at. They walked towards the end of the shopping street where a Torii gate and a set of stairs welcomed them. He could literally hear Jongdae cursed inside of his head, and Baekhyun felt guilty since he had no ideas about the hundreds of stairs and hilly areas in Enoshima Island too so he linked his arm with Jongdae. “Together.” Baekhyun mouthed and Jongdae just nodded, before they slowly climbed the stairs. 

  
They arrived at Hetsunomiya, the Outer Shrine after 5 minutes of stairs climbing. Both were out of breath, so they just silently observed the shrine, just like the other visitors. 

  
Jongdae were busy taking pictures of the shrine when suddenly Baekhyun tugged his arm. “I bought us two votive boards. Let’s write our wish here.” Baekhyun said and handed him a red votive board. 

  
“Where will we hang this later?” Jongdae asked, as he looked around the area.   
“That tree over there.” Baekhyun pointed at a tree that was surrounded by votive boards. Jongdae immediately walked towards the tree, followed by Baekhyun. 

  
“Silly! This is for people wishing on love! I thought you want to wish for our studies?” Jongdae whined after reading the explanation that was put beside the tree. 

  
“Nothing’s wrong with wishing for study here, anyway! We love our studies so of course we can pray for it here!” Baekhyun whined back, pushed a pen on Jongdae’s palm. He wasn’t the type to read first compared to Jongdae so of course he refused to acknowledge his mistake. 

  
Jongdae looked at his votive board for a while, his brain worked hard to think of what to write on it. He wasn’t a religious guy, but he too believed in some greater power above so he wanted to make sure that every words would be accepted by the divine entity. He looked up to see Baekhyun, who was currently writing with so much focus on his votive board. 

  
_I want a person like him for me to love for my whole life._

  
Jongdae wasn’t lying, if Baekhyun wasn’t his best friend, he would probably ask Baekhyun to a date already. Baekhyun was a fun person to be with, very supportive despite his love to fight Jongdae’s every word and action. The person that knew Jongdae the best. He wanted a person that understood him just like how Baekhyun knew and understood him. 

  
Baekhyun’s cough made Jongdae realized that he was staring openly at Baekhyun. Funny. 

  
_I want a person like Baekhyun as the love of my life_. 

  
Jongdae stared at his words, it sounded wrong but he couldn’t pinpoint where was the mistake. He would love to have someone that he could love right now, he believed that he was ready for that. He would love if the person could understand him like Baekhyun understood him, that would be wonderful to have an understanding partner. But would he love to have Baekhyun as the love of his life?

  
Never before in his life to have that kind of thought crossed his mind. Was it because he was going to Japan alone with Baekhyun? Was it the tree who casted its magic towards two closest human being and accidentally bonded them? No, Jongdae quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts. Of course Baekhyun would never think of him that way, they were best friends. 

  
Jongdae quickly tied his votive board at a place further than where Baekhyun was now currently tying his. He had no idea what Baekhyun wished or on what did Baekhyun wish, but he silently prayed at the tree that they would get what they wished in love, and in life. 

  
When he opened his eyes and looked on his right side, he found Baekhyun’s eyes, intensely looking at him, silently asking what was he praying for. 

  
True enough, at that moment, Jongdae was praying for himself and Baekhyun, for them to successfully pass the exchange program, for them to survive the six months at a foreign country, for them to continue live in harmony with each other, and for them to finally found a love that would bring peace in their lives.

  
“I’m praying for us.”

  
Because Jongdae was indeed praying for them.

* * *

They passed Nakatsunomiya, the Middle Shrine silently, with Jongdae quickly said his prayer since he could sense that Baekhyun was getting antsy since they hadn’t eat their lunch yet. 

  
They finally reached the viewpoints at 1 pm, and Baekhyun was now looking actively for food. There were a few food stalls at Kamegaoka Square, just beside the viewpoints, and they noticed a long line at one stall which intrigued both of their curiosities. 

  
“Go read what they are selling, I’ll queue for us.” Jongdae said, since Baekhyun could read Hiragana and Katakana well. Baekhyun nodded and immediately went closer to the front of the shop to read the menu. 

  
“Jongdae, Jongdae!” Baekhyun excitedly walked back towards Jongdae who was now queuing together with the other people. “They are selling senbei! Rice crackers! Enoshima is famous for their takosenbei, octopus rice crackers! We should try it!” 

  
“Nice! Let’s order some then.” Jongdae replied happily. “Is it enough for you? It looks like just some snacks to me.”

  
“I read online, there are restaurants on the way to the Inner Shrine.” Baekhyun said. “We can finally eat good rice bowls and not some convenience store foods.” He linked his arm with Jongdae, happy with the thoughts of good food. 

  
“Kawaii kappuru.” A woman in front of them said cutely, to her friend who stood beside her. They giggled happily at Baekhyun and Jongdae, which made Baekhyun gaped and Jongdae confused. 

  
“A..Arigato.” Baekhyun answered shyly. He wanted to say something else, but his Japanese vocabulary was suddenly unavailable due to the sudden comment by the Japanese woman. 

  
“What did she just say?” Jongdae whispered, didn’t want to appear rude in front of the women. 

  
“They said we’re handsome.” Baekhyun lied, his face already red due to embarrassment. 

  
“Oh! Arigato!” Jongdae bowed down towards the women and smiled happily at them. The women bowed down back at them, and continued to giggle happily.   
If it wasn’t for his growling stomach, Baekhyun would definitely drag Jongdae away from those women. The woman was actually saying _cute couple_ at them, and how could he say honestly to Jongdae what the woman was saying after reacting like a shy teenager. 

  
It wasn’t the first time people thought they were a couple, they experienced it a lot of times already. But usually their other friends would be there too to either help clearing the confusion or spreading more confusion towards the people who questioned their relationship, which Baekhyun and Jongdae would quickly deny any romantic relationship between them. 

  
But now it was just the two of them, and somehow the air was clearer, there were no more annoying voices from their friends. It was just Baekhyun himself to deal with the situation, minus the clueless Jongdae. 

  
And now the confused party wasn’t the one that said they were a couple. 

  
Baekhyun was the one confused here.

* * *

They ate their lunch without no incident, ordering shirasu rice bowls, which are rice bowls topped with small fishes, one of Enoshima’s specialties. Good food really lifted their mood, as they continued to climb down and walked towards the Inner Shrine, Okutsunomiya. 

  
They just passed the shrine and continued to climb down the staircase, and took a lot of pictures because by now, the view was so magnificent and the Sagami Bay was just too beautiful. They could see the sea clearly now, and thankfully they arrived during low tide. They reached the Chigogafuchi plateau, which was a wide platform of rocks formed and met the sea, after ten minutes climbing down the stairs, and both were speechless by the scene that unfolded right in front of their eyes. 

  
Both of them sat on the rocks and watched the beautiful sea, there were no waves by the time they came and the sun seemed to hide away behind the thick clouds, giving them a suitable moment to just sit there and enjoy the view. 

  
They agreed not to enter Iwaya Caves since Baekhyun was afraid of stuffy and dark places, contrary to his tough look. Jongdae didn’t make fun of that and Baekhyun was extremely thankful for it, that Jongdae knew when not to push Baekhyun’s limits. 

  
Silent moment like this made Baekhyun wondered, it wasn’t easy for him to feel at peace in silence. He loved to talk, it made people didn’t see his insecurities, his flaws. People loved his humor and he loved that it distracted them from seeing his mistakes. 

  
It was easy to sit in silence with Jongdae, and Baekhyun just realized it now. He didn’t have to start any conversation with Jongdae, there was no need to talk when they could understand each other just by looking at each other. They didn’t have to keep talking to feel their connections, and Baekhyun didn’t feel force to say anything. Because this silence wasn’t awkward at all, it was peaceful. 

  
Baekhyun stared at Jongdae, who was busy taking pictures of anything. Jongdae rarely the type to take out his phone, but the view was indeed worth it to be captured by a camera. Jongdae was happy, and that made Baekhyun happy too. 

  
Jongdae was smiling happily, and Baekhyun realized that Jongdae’s smile was so beautiful, probably due to the brightness caused by their surrounding sea reflecting the sunlight. Beautiful smile. Shimmering. Blinding. 

  
“Aren’t you going to take any pictures, Baekhyun?” Jongdae asked, scrolling through his gallery. Baekhyun was right to choose Enoshima as their first visit, he was now looking forward to explore more places in Kanagawa. 

  
“You’re taking pictures. I can borrow from you.” Baekhyun stared at the sea. What was the thing that blinded his eyes just now? He nearly believed now that Japan’s air was making his body felt weird. 

  
“You’re staring. Silently. You rarely staring silently. Except towards your crushes.” Jongdae put down his phone and looked at Baekhyun. 

  
“Stupid. I’m not staring at you.” Baekhyun now tried so hard to stare at the sea. Blinding. 

  
“Moron, I didn’t say you’re staring at me.” Jongdae replied back. “You’re just so silent, it makes me wonder if something is wrong with you.”

  
“Japan’s air.”

  
Jongdae couldn’t believe his hearing. “What’s wrong with Japan’s air? It’s better than the polluted air that we have at Seoul. It’s nicer here, clearer. We don’t have to wear those stupid mask and smell our own breath.”

  
Baekhyun tried to find the correct words but he couldn’t. “It’s too clear. Blinding. Made me see things I didn’t see before.”

  
“Excuse me bro, but are you sick?” Jongdae quickly scooted closer towards Baekhyun and put his palm on Baekhyun’s forehead. “You’re good. You’re good, right? Are you homesick? Want to make a video call with your mother?”

  
Baekhyun quickly panicked at the sudden skin-ship and at how close they were. He slapped Jongdae’s hand away and nearly pushed Jongdae further from him. Okay, that was new, Byun Baekhyun. You never pushed Kim Jongdae, your best friend. Baekhyun immediately disguised his hand that nearly pushed Jongdae’s shoulder by instead patting it repetitively. Nervously. Too hard. 

  
“Sorry. Poor reflex of mine.” Baekhyun said. “My forehead is extremely sweaty, don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because of it. Wait, let me find a wet tissue for you to wipe your hand.” 

  
Jongdae stopped Baekhyun from opening his backpack. “Baekhyun, seriously. Are you okay? You’re acting weird.”

  
“I’m okay, Jongdae. Probably just overwhelmed with everything.”

  
“Tired? Do you want to go back now?”

  
“No, no.” Baekhyun quickly replied. He looked at Jongdae, and immediately felt guilty. He didn’t mean to make Jongdae worried like this over his stupid what was the thing that blinding him issues. 

  
Another thing that Baekhyun loved about Jongdae was that Jongdae always cared about him, noticed the littlest thing about him, knew when Baekhyun wasn’t fine. But at times like this, when Baekhyun was confused by the more frequent funny feelings in his heart, now added by the blinding effect whenever he looked at Jongdae to the point that he couldn’t keep his gaze away from Jongdae; he wished that Jongdae wouldn’t notice those littlest things about him. 

  
“Let’s continue to the next place then. The rocks are getting too hot to sit on anyway.” Jongdae stood, offered his hand for Baekhyun to hold onto. 

  
“It’s just another place to pray for love.” Baekhyun stated. “We can skip that and go back to the shopping street.”

  
“It’s okay. We can pray that we will stay together forever.”

  
“I’m sorry, what—“

  
“There’s nothing wrong to ask to be best friends for life and I want that with you, Baekhyun.”

  
And now, a new stabbing feeling entered Baekhyun’s heart, added more confusion in himself towards whatever he was feeling right now. 

  
“Okay, let’s go.”

* * *

“I thought you guys forget about Korea!” Chanyeol’s voice was loud, thank goodness Baekhyun decided to do the video call once they were back at their apartment. 

  
“Hello to you too.” Baekhyun replied, his body already laid on the futon mattress. 

  
“Where’s Jongdae? Already got some Japanese woman to hang out with?” Chanyeol asked excitedly, happy that finally Baekhyun chose to do the video call so that he could see what his best friends were doing. 

  
“Sorry to disappoint you, he’s just taking a shower.” Baekhyun answered, eyes on the door of the bathroom. 

  
“Wow, you got a tan. Where did you guys go? A beach or a campus?” Chanyeol observed Baekhyun’s face, noticed the differences despite the pixelated video quality. 

  
“Island.”

  
“Japan is a combination of islands.”

  
“Campus. Enoshima Island.”

  
“Hold on, Baekhyun. You’re not you. You’re replying less than 5 words. Okay, spill. Anything bad happened to you guys there? Need my help? I don’t have the money to fly to Japan but I can help through video call.”

  
Maybe all his best friends could notice the difference in him, Baekhyun decided. Maybe Jongdae wasn’t so special after all. Should he try to contact Kyungsoo and see if Kyungsoo too could notice the difference in him? Maybe he was the one overthinking everything since they were usually a group of four, and not just the two of them. 

  
Baekhyun was lost in his thoughts, staring at the bathroom door, to the point that he didn’t even listening to whatever Chanyeol was saying now. He shouldn’t behave like this, shouldn’t even think weirdly of Jongdae, his own best friend. 

  
“BYUN BAEKHYUN!” Chanyeol shouted loudly, it startled Baekhyun so much to the point that he dropped the phone on his face. Ouch. 

  
“PARK CHANYEOL YOU CRAZY HUMAN!”

  
“I’m sorry but you’re the one spacing out just now when I was talking excitedly alone here!” Chanyeol shouted again, just a little less louder than before. “What happened to you? What are you staring at? Ghost?”

  
Chanyeol waited patiently, for any words from Baekhyun but Baekhyun just continued to stare at the front camera, opened up his mouth a few times, tried to say a word but he couldn’t even say anything. It was rare to see Baekhyun speechless, he was usually speechless when he did something terribly wrong, and Chanyeol had no idea what wrong that Baekhyun already did. 

  
“Jongdae. He...he is...blinding.”

  
If Chanyeol had the power to fly right now, he wanted to fly to Japan and hug Baekhyun so tight right now. Chanyeol was the poor witness to the oblivious bros that he had as best friends for years already, he nearly couldn’t believe what Baekhyun just said right now. 

  
Interesting character development.

* * *

They were in a train now, Baekhyun was sitting beside Jongdae, fast asleep. Baekhyun still couldn't get use to wake up early but for traveling purposes, he did it anyway.

  
They were going to Yokohama, Kanagawa’s biggest city and their first stop was Minato Mirai Station. 

  
Jongdae was so excited to explore more now, and when Baekhyun suggested that they should go to Yokohama for a taste of urban port life, he immediately agreed. Yokohama seemed fun to look at online, and in pamphlets. They did got a taste of Tokyo when they tried to reach Fujisawa from Haneda Airport two days ago, passing Tokyo area while transferring trains, and truthfully, he was afraid of the fast life in Tokyo so he hoped Yokohama wasn't as fast as Tokyo.   
Baekhyun was less talkative too yesterday, probably too amazed with Enoshima Island. Well, at least Jongdae was the one that was amazed by the small island.

  
"Are we there yet?" Baekhyun's groggy voice took Jongdae's attention from the view outside. 

  
"A few stations left. Look, the buildings got taller and more compact compared to Fujisawa."

  
"Now you sound like a true tourist." Baekhyun yawned. 

  
Jongdae just smiled at him, didn't even want to deny it. Japan started to gain his interest, people might think Korea and Japan were similar since they were neighbors but in reality, those two countries differed so much. 

  
"Enoshima is so nice, so I really want to see more. People here are very polite too, they didn't give any weird looks at us," Jongdae said as Baekhyun straightened his back, fully awake now. 

  
"Why would people give us weird looks? We didn't do anything weird." Baekhyun asked as he looked at his phone. 9.45 am.

  
"We're foreigners. We speak differently."

  
Baekhyun didn't reply, he just stared at the view in front of him. It was another sunny day, they finally bought sun block from Lawson last night since Baekhyun had a serious tan and Jongdae couldn't stop whining about the importance of taking care of skin from dangerous sunlight. 

  
"I had a video call with Chanyeol when you had your shower last night, I totally forgotten to tell you."

  
"Ah, I did hear you screamed last night, thought it must be Chanyeol who was talking to you. Did you show him the apartment? It is a lot better than our dorm."

  
"Nah, I'm too tired to even stand up. I just show him the room while lying down on the futon. Should we video call him while we are sightseeing? He would love to see Japan."

  
"I prefer to just see it with you." Jongdae said. 

  
"Huh? You're with me." Baekhyun replied, confused. He turned to look at Jongdae. "We usually have a trip in group, all four of us. Now that it is just you and me, it feels weird." Intimate, but he would never say it out loud.

  
"I think we never went to a trip with just the two of us...? You always went snowboarding for nights with Chanyeol during winter or food hunting at other districts with Kyungsoo, but you just called me for half day hangout or late night movies."

  
"But, we are roommates? I literally see you every day?" Baekhyun nearly screamed. 

  
"No, you see. Traveling like this made me realized that it feels different? How should I explain it to you? Traveling is like going to somewhere unknown, trying new risks. I don't know, we rarely do anything risky together."

  
"Should we go to Mount Fuji tomorrow then? Hiking?"

  
"Silly. You know I don't meant risking our lives."

  
"You think too much."

  
"Maybe. Maybe I'm afraid that you'll get bored with me."

  
"You're the silly one here. I'll never get bored of you."

  
They fell into silence, since the train stopped and their eyes wandered to the screen to check if it was Minato Mirai Station. Two more stations and they would finally arrive there. Jongdae continued to look at anywhere he could see on the train, but his brain was totally on something else. 

  
Jongdae rarely shared his feelings too deep with Baekhyun. They usually just bickered nearly 24/7, so this situation during traveling and exploring with Baekhyun, it felt like something new to him. Traveling didn't need bickering, it needed understanding and empathy towards your travel partner. It made him aware of Baekhyun 24/7, aware of Baekhyun's moods and needs, aware if Baekhyun was comfortable or not. He was oblivious of it before, usually it was Kyungsoo who would make sure that they were feed properly on a trip and Chanyeol would be the one to think of itinerary and what to do. Jongdae usually just helped to cheer the mood and helped taking pictures and Baekhyun would usually there to hype him and annoy the others.

  
But this, to have his 100% attention on Baekhyun, it felt weird. This Baekhyun was different from the Baekhyun that hung out with his three best friends; this Baekhyun was more fragile, worried and get mad easily, didn't talk much. But this Baekhyun also felt more peaceful, happier and less guarded. More colors than usual. And Jongdae wanted to see more of this Baekhyun.

  
"Did Chanyeol threat you to video call him often? Tell him no. I refuse to see his face for 6 months." Jongdae finally said. 

  
Baekhyun laughed at that, Jongdae would never let Chanyeol lived peacefully. "He didn't threat me. It's just that I accidentally told him...about something."   
"Huh? What did you tell him?"

  
"I'll tell you when I'm more confident. Nothing important, just some realization of something. I realized something stupid yesterday."

  
Jongdae's eyes got bigger. "Don't tell me you regret going to Japan now, Byun Baekhyun." Did Baekhyun got chickened out that he needed Chanyeol's reassurance via video call that Japan was good enough to stay for 6 months? 

  
"No, silly. I'll tell you later, when I feel like it. I'm experimenting with Japan's air like I told you yesterday, basically. Somehow the air made me more religious, I kept on searching for shrines and temples here." Baekhyun joked, tried to change the topic. 

  
"Yeah, there are a lot of places to pray here, I'm not surprised if suddenly our apartment is full of different kind of amulets." Jongdae joked back, Baekhyun already bought ten amulets yesterday alone. "Come on, Baekhyun. If you're feeling insecure about anything, you can share it with me, I'm here with you, for you. If you want a day rest, we can rest tomorrow. There's no need to see everything before we register for the program, we can just stay at the apartment and you can play games like you usually do."

  
"Why are you making it sounds like I'm the one that didn't want to be a tourist now? Manipulator." Baekhyun glared at him. 

  
"I'm not, I'm just worried for you." Jongdae answered. "We only have each other here, whatever happen to you will affect me too. It's okay to take everything slow, whatever you just realized yesterday, it's okay if it's overwhelming. Japan's air or just plain homesick, there's nothing wrong with it, your feelings are valid."

  
Baekhyun nodded silently, they were now approaching Minato Mirai Station. A new place to explore, more memories to make, and it was with Jongdae alone. He felt excited just by thinking about it. Jongdae was right, they never went to new places together after enrolling as university students. "Let's enjoy Yokohama, bro." He offered his hand out, and Jongdae firmly took it before shaking it. 

  
"Two Korean men in Yokohama, sounds like a cheesy young adult novel." Jongdae laughed, as he pulled Baekhyun together with him to stand up since the train now was slowly decreasing its speed, a signal that they were now near the Minato Mirai Station. 

  
Baekhyun tried to laugh too, but his heart was now back at giving him those funny feelings. Yeah, whatever. It was just a simple handshake. 

  
And they were just two bros in Yokohama.

* * *

"Oh my God, that was fast but I didn't feel dizzy at all."

  
"You're weak if you're dizzy now, Jongdae," Baekhyun said as he smiled at the other tourists that were exiting the elevator. The receptionist at the ticket desk asked him if they were a couple and now Baekhyun could only smile and nodded. Easier. 

  
They arrived at the observation deck and the view that greeted them could not even be described by words. Yokohama Landmark Tower was the tallest tower in Yokohama, equipped with the fastest elevator in Japan, with a 360 degree view of Yokohama could be experienced at the top of the building which they currently stood at. There were so many things to look at, on the land, on the sea and on the skies, they literally went speechless by the view. There were no clouds on the skies and Mount Fuji could easily be seen from the deck, the blue skies gave a very bluish color to the sea which they could see clearly surrounding the port area, dotted by ships docking and sailing the sea. And the landscapes; Minato Mirai itself was a place filled with pretty landscapes, from tall buildings and big ferris wheel, to green parks that could be spotted here and there. 

  
Baekhyun could only stare in wonder at the beauty that was shown in front of him, the phone on his hand was totally forgotten. 

  
Jongdae looked at Baekhyun from his position, and the spot where Baekhyun was standing now made him an interesting subject with Mount Fuji as the background. Jongdae took the opportunity to take Baekhyun's candid pictures and when he examined the pictures, he was in awe. He didn't know which one was the art now, both Baekhyun and the backgrounds were so beautiful. 

  
"Ha! You're taking my pictures without my permission!" Baekhyun said, immediately walked towards Jongdae.

  
Jongdae smiled at him, and gave his phone at Baekhyun. "Finally I can take good pictures. This one came out so beautiful, you look so cool in this. Well, your pose is beautiful. If I didn't know you, maybe I'll flirt with you on the spot."

  
Baekhyun nearly dropped Jongdae's phone. "Oh God, is this a revelation where I'm your muse and you'll start to stalk and take pictures of me silently?"

  
"I think the first hundred pictures in my gallery now are you and Japan."

  
"Wow, Jongdae. Are you really going to make me your muse? I'm feeling weird now."

  
Jongdae snatched his phone back from Baekhyun. "No, stupid. Japan is my muse and you're just a stupid person happen to stand everywhere I'm trying to take a picture."

  
Baekhyun pouted, but then he kept reminding himself not to start acting weird in front of Jongdae since Jongdae could probably notice it right away. 

  
Yokohama was nice, almost romantic, it they weren’t just two bros going for a sightseeing in a new place. There were a lot of couple activities that could be done here, with atmosphere that was so perfect in every way, and Baekhyun couldn’t resist himself to try imagining this as a date. Should he try his luck by being extra clingy? But then Baekhyun was clingy from the start, Jongdae probably had no problem with that. 

  
Baekhyun wanted to take another pictures of the view when suddenly Jongdae held Baekhyun’s palm lightly. Funny feelings came again. 

  
“That red building over there.” Jongdae pointed at a wide red building near the sea. “Is that where we’ll go next? It seems like there’s some kind of event there.”

  
Baekhyun was in trouble. He had trouble whether to hold Jongdae’s fingers that were casually there on his palm or not, he had trouble to find his suddenly malfunctioning voice, he had trouble searching for the building that Jongdae was pointing at. He was indeed in trouble. 

  
“Uh. Yeah, we’ll go to Red Brick Warehouse after this.” Safe answer, since Baekhyun still couldn’t find the building. “We can take the bus or just walk. It isn’t that far.” 

  
“We should just walk then! The weather is good and we can go see the buildings around! Save us a few yens too. Let’s have lunch there. We can skip the mall in this building for another time.”

  
Baekhyun’s heart skipped a beat. “We’ll go again next time?” Shoot, wrong question. 

  
“Don’t you want to?” Jongdae asked, still holding Baekhyun’s hand. “We can’t see everything in a day, Yokohama is huge. We should enjoy the places slowly, instead of cramping everything in a day.”

  
“Wow, are you securing a date at Yokohama with me?” _No, Baekhyun, don’t go there._

  
“No? I can go alone anyway.” Jongdae answered as he retreated his hand from Baekhyun’s palm. Baekhyun immediately missed the direct heat. 

  
“There’s nothing wrong going with me. I’m fun to be with.” Baekhyun tried to joke, when truthfully he was afraid that Jongdae would seriously go to Yokohama alone and left Baekhyun with misery. Jongdae could do that, Jongdae was extremely adventurous compared to Baekhyun. 

  
“Stupid, of course I’m going with you,” Jongdae replied. “I need you as my translator, too bad your direction skill is terrible.”

  
“The map is full of colors and words, my skill is not at fault here!” Baekhyun whined. 

  
“You read the signs, I read the map. See? We can be such good partners with each other.”

  
Baekhyun really didn’t want to think too much about the word partners, travel partners were partners too. Partner was an ambiguous word.

  
“Just say you need me for various reasons, I’ll go with you anyway, a date or not.” Baekhyun said it quickly, didn’t want to sound like he meant anything when actually he meant every word that he said. 

  
Jongdae stared at Baekhyun for a second. “A date shouldn’t be too impromptu like this, don’t you think? We only have last minute plan, I don’t want a date that could end with trouble.”

  
Baekhyun tried his best to breathe properly because there it was, the whole funny feelings in his heart were mixing together, clenching his heart with a weird kind of warmth. A confused warmth that made him want to smile at Jongdae and run from Jongdae at the same time. Jongdae said his words naturally, like he meant it. Like he really wanted to take his best friend out for a date and didn’t feel anything wrong about that. As if he did consider to take Baekhyun to a properly plan date, like he did consider checking the weather and traffics beforehand so that they could have a smooth date together. 

  
A Chinese man politely tapped Baekhyun’s shoulder and he was back on Earth again, when the man gestured at his big camera, asking Baekhyun if he could take his picture for him using the camera. 

  
“Go take his picture. His family already ready to pose there.” Jongdae pushed Baekhyun lightly towards the Chinese man, and started to walk at a different corner. Baekhyun just smiled and nodded at the Chinese man, as he handed his camera at Baekhyun and jogged happily towards his family, readying himself for the camera. Baekhyun was nervous, not because of taking pictures for the strangers. He was nervous because he was starting to lose control of his heart, and he silently thanked the Chinese man for interrupting his silence just now.

  
“You, and boy. Want me take picture too?” The Chinese man asked in broken English after Baekhyun handed his camera back, and pointed at Jongdae who was now enjoying the view. 

  
“No, no. It’s okay. Thank you. Have a good day.” Baekhyun answered him and politely bowed down before walking back towards Jongdae. Suddenly the thought of taking pictures with Jongdae was making him shy. Funny. 

  
“Let’s take a few more pictures and head to Red Brick Warehouse before noon. Are you okay with that?” Baekhyun asked when Jongdae noticed his presence. 

  
Jongdae nodded, his face was happy and Baekhyun’s head full with the word _blinding_ that he was forced to immediately look at somewhere else. Jongdae was always happy, but now Jongdae looked extra happy and Baekhyun realized that he really liked this extra happy Jongdae. 

  
Baekhyun looked at the clear skies, which was now probably as clear as his heart, as he slowly accepting whatever was brewing or already brewed in his heart, for his best friend.

* * *

“Welcome to Red Brick Beach!”

  
Three Japanese women greeted them happily and handed them a pamphlet, as they arrived at the main entrance, probably a temporary entrance made for the event, decorated with a lot of pink stuffs. Even the word Red Brick Beach was designed in pink background with white letters. 

  
They had no idea there was an event ongoing at the place, since they literally just planned to go there due to Naver’s recommendations. It was crowded and the path they were walking on felt sandy, since the place was decorated to resemble a beach. 

  
The event took place outside of Red Brick Warehouse, at the wide open space which now was filled with stalls and pink decorations, not to mention a replica of beach at another end of the area, just near the sea. Small pink flags were tied everywhere from stall to stall, and the view was a nice change from what they had already seen from yesterday. Even a miniature garden was placed there, and the streets were decorated with palm trees, probably to get the beach mood to the max. 

  
Jongdae was holding tight to Baekhyun’s arm now, since there were too many people and he didn’t want to lose Baekhyun in the crowds. Baekhyun had no time to think weirdly of the warmth radiated from Jongdae, since his brain was busy translating anything Japanese so that they would not miss anything from this event. 

  
They finally reached a street recommended by the pamphlet, filled with 6 extremely wide restaurants. Each restaurant served a different specialty but each one gave a very comfortable ambiance with a lot of seats available to cater the huge crowds. 

  
“What do you want to eat? They have American, Korean, French, Mexican, English and Chinese restaurants here!” Baekhyun explained cheerfully. He pointed at the menu on the pamphlet so that Jongdae could decide. 

  
“You want to try French cuisine? I’ve never try any. I don’t know if Kyungsoo ever bring you to any of French restaurants.” Jongdae suggested, the French menu interested him so much. 

  
“No, I’ve never eaten any French cuisine too! Let’s find a seat then!” Baekhyun dragged him happily, totally forgotten that they linked their arms closely. 

  
Baekhyun ordered Basque Seafood Stew, while Jongdae ordered Lamb Navarin and both of them wanted to try the rainbow frappe, which apparently the signature of the restaurant since they could see a lot of people were buying the pretty beverage. Thankfully the total price was cheap, probably due to the event; the restaurant would guarantee to have customers anyway. 

  
“Jongdae, give me a piece of the lamb please.” Baekhyun pointed at the meat with his chopstick. 

  
“Why can’t they give us another pair of fork and knife? I want to eat in peace too.” Jongdae whined but he began to cut a piece for Baekhyun anyway. 

  
“Feed me, it’s hard to take it with these chopsticks.” Baekhyun teased him. 

  
“No shit, feed yourself.” Jongdae placed the meat closer to Baekhyun, but Baekhyun made no move to take the piece of meat. Instead, he opened up his mouth shamelessly. Okay, maybe he was ready to risk it all. 

  
“Come on, the chopsticks they gave are too tricky to handle.” Baekhyun said and opened his mouth wide again. 

  
“You talk like you just learned to use chopsticks today.” Jongdae replied and stabbed the meat unnecessarily hard as a sign of protest. He fed Baekhyun anyway. 

  
“Wow, delicious,” Baekhyun talked while chewing, Jongdae might find it cutely gross. Grossly cute. Maybe both. 

  
After eating another spoonful of his stew, Baekhyun opened up his mouth again and gestured for Jongdae to feed him. Jongdae could only just stare at him. 

  
“I’m not Kyungsoo, you shit,” Jongdae aggressively cut the meat but Baekhyun continued to open up his mouth. “Why are you keep eating my food but didn’t offer yours?” Another piece of meat was fed to Baekhyun who was now chewing cheerfully. 

  
“Want me to feed you too?” Baekhyun asked, his mouth was still full. “It feels so good to be fed.”

  
“No way. I’m not a spoilt brat like you. You’re 20 but you act like—“

  
Baekhyun smoothly shoved his spoon which was full of seafood goodnesses into Jongdae’s mouth and that quickly shut him up. “Nice balance from that lamb right? Feels like eating freshly from the sea too. The things that they used are high grade stuffs.”

  
“Feed me more. I’ll feed you back.” Jongdae said and now diligently cut his meat for both of them to eat. 

  
Indeed, feeding good foods was certainly the easier way to reach the heart.

* * *

“So blue.” Baekhyun said as they finally sat on the deck at Osanbashi Pier. They spent hours at Red Brick Warehouse, and only by 5 pm they decided to walk towards Osanbashi Pier. No ship docked at the area, so they could see the sea and the surrounding views without any obstacles. The pier was nearly empty since people probably crowded at Red Brick Beach, but there were a few couples spotted sitting here and there. There was also a couple doing a wedding photoshoot, probably for pre-wedding. 

  
“It’s lucky that they finally found their true love.” Jongdae said, eyes focused on the couple doing the photoshoot. They were sitting at a secluded corner, hidden from people’s eyes by a vending machine. 

  
“Someone that worth all the fight with the wind.” Baekhyun joked, as the bride was having trouble with her veil since the wind was too strong. 

  
“What will you wear on your wedding? Suits?”

  
Baekhyun scoffed, the four of them always joked about wedding, about who would get married first and stuffs like that. “Suits. Maybe hanbok. Beautiful hanbok. I want to do both modern and traditional wedding ceremonies.”

  
“That’s...awesome. I’ll sing for you then at the modern ceremony. I don’t want to do speeches. Leave that to Chanyeol. Or maybe Kyungsoo. He raised you well.”

  
Baekhyun laughed at that, Jongdae always did part time job by singing at weddings. But right now, Baekhyun didn’t agree to any of it. “If by 30 I’m still single, you must marry me. I don’t care if you’re married. Divorce your partner, I’ll even take your children with us.” Baekhyun replied, now lying down on the wooden deck with his backpack as the pillow, staring at the skies, slowly getting darker. 

  
“Wow, is that a proposal? You picked a right place to do a proposal but your proposal sucks.” Jongdae just humored him, still staring at the struggling couple. Although having problem with the veil and now the bride’s wedding gown seemed to be stepped by the bridegroom, the couple still laughed happily like they weren’t in trouble at all. Jongdae loved these kind of couples, all smiley despite whatever mishap happened at them. Because they were truly happy to finally have each other. 

  
“Will you accept if I really propose to you?” Baekhyun asked, head turned towards Jongdae who was sitting at his left side. 

  
“You’re tiring.” Jongdae answered. “Be less tiring when you’re 30 later, then maybe I’ll say yes to you.”

  
Baekhyun smiled, knew that Jongdae didn’t mean anything bad with his words. He took out his phone and tapped on the camera, tried to find a good angle with Jongdae as the focus and the now darkened blue skies as the background. Jongdae noticed him, and quickly gave his kitty smile. Baekhyun captured it perfectly, or so he thought. 

  
“I look good up close, if the picture turns out bad then your skill is truly terrible.” Jongdae said as he waited for Baekhyun to check the picture. 

  
“Nah, I’m so good in photography, I should do it as my part time job.” He handed his phone to Jongdae, who was smiling widely when he saw the picture. It turned out to be perfect, worth to be a new profile picture. Jongdae slowly lowered down his body and rested his head on Baekhyun’s stomach, the wind and the approaching dusk somehow made him so sleepy. It wasn’t awkward, they did this often in their dorm, whenever they were watching a movie on laptop, or whenever Baekhyun played game on his phone and Jongdae just wanted to cling to him due to lack of conversation. But this was also the first time they did it in Japan, at a public place too. Still, it didn’t feel awkward, in fact, it felt right. Everything in the atmosphere made it felt right. Baekhyun’s fingers now slowly threading on his hair, and he didn’t get panic by the gestures. He just felt calmer by the touch. 

  
Baekhyun looked at Jongdae who was now scrolling his gallery. There was nothing to hide there, Jongdae knew anything and everything about him. Well, except for one now. His steadily growing feelings for Jongdae himself, which he didn’t even know when exactly it started to grow. Jongdae always made him felt happy, but now that they really did something together, without other people to disturb them, and nothing to distract him from Jongdae, he realized that Jongdae really made him felt wonderful. 

  
Could he survive 6 months of this pining? Baekhyun wasn’t a man of drama. He preferred to settle his problem fast, but this involved Jongdae, and feelings were such complicated matters. He always sorted any arguments with Jongdae quickly, always tried to find a middle ground in any differences that they had. But he couldn’t sort this problem as easily as that. There was their friendship at stake here, and whatever happened to them would affect Chanyeol and Kyungsoo too. And Jongdae. He had no idea what Jongdae felt for him. He didn’t know how Jongdae would react once he told him that he had some kind of feelings for him. 

  
Jongdae was looking at him when Baekhyun realized that he was staring too deep at Jongdae’s direction, and Baekhyun had a trouble on how to react since he was so embarrassed being caught staring like that. Jongdae however, just took Baekhyun’s left arm and held it close to his chest. The middle, probably somewhere on top of Jongdae’s heart. The beat was steady, calm, and Jongdae’s fingers now reached for Baekhyun’s fingers, steadily laced their fingers together. Jongdae had both of his eyes closed now, so Baekhyun had no idea what was going on Jongdae’s mind. But Jongdae’s face. It was so peaceful, so serene, Baekhyun was dying to take a picture of that but his phone was still somewhere in Jongdae’s possession. 

  
But when Jongdae opened up his eyes and looked up at Baekhyun that Baekhyun felt knocked out from this world. 

  
It was intense. Jongdae had never looked at him so intense, the intensity was so strong that Baekhyun forget about their surroundings; the wind, the skies, the sea. 

  
Baekhyun was probably out of his mind, when he started to move his hand and lightly touched Jongdae’s right cheek. Jongdae didn’t flinch, instead he just turned his body and now was lying on his left side, still looking at Baekhyun intensely. It felt intimate, Jongdae was showing him things he never shown Baekhyun before and it was easy for Baekhyun to get lost in the small black galaxy shone within Jongdae’s eyes. They weren’t tense at all, Baekhyun welcomed Jongdae’s weight on his body and Jongdae was relaxed, still looking at him. Both were silent, but then there was nothing to talk about too. 

  
Jongdae moved, and suddenly Baekhyun freaked out, his eyes got bigger as Jongdae started to hover over him. This was new, they never did this towards each other without a reason, and he didn’t know what was Jongdae’s current reason. Jongdae stopped moving when his face was literally a few inches above Baekhyun’s face, his left hand rested on the right side of Baekhyun’s head. Baekhyun’s heart was beating like crazy now, cursed silently inside because Jongdae didn’t look affected at all. 

  
Jongdae smiled at him, probably noticed the stress radiated from Baekhyun, before slowly lowered his head and rested it on the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. Baekhyun was speechless, he had nothing to say even though everything was so ridiculous now. Instead, he hugged Jongdae’s waist, his hold was loose, he was still confused. When they were literally glued like that, Baekhyun finally noticed the fast beating of heart. Or hearts? He knew his heart was beating wildly now, did Jongdae’s heart act as crazy as his too? What exactly happened to them?

  
They weren’t drunk, the frappe was nonalcoholic, the foods weren’t mixed with wine. But Baekhyun was drunk in his emotions, this moment was enough to confirm whatever he felt for Jongdae wasn’t platonic anymore. Jongdae was making him a complete mess now, and best friend shouldn’t make your heart beating like crazy. 

  
Baekhyun tried to take a deep breath, even with Jongdae’s weight on top of him, he needed to breathe. 

  
That was when Jongdae moved his head a little, and now his lips were on Baekhyun’s neck. Baekhyun was on fire. 

  
They never kissed each other, not even something like this. The most Jongdae would usually do was to kiss his hair for good luck before their exams. Even during stupid dares they would tried their best to escape the punishments by doing something else, kissing each other’s skin felt like a taboo for them. Whatever possessed Jongdae right now would certainly possess Baekhyun too, soon, and Baekhyun fought his best to at least stay calm. 

  
Baekhyun turned completely rigid, but Jongdae was breathing using his mouth now and each puff was melting Baekhyun’s uncertainty and sanity together. He wanted to ask if there was anything wrong since Jongdae was behaving way too out of his norms, but then Baekhyun didn’t want to break whatever they had right now. He could control his heart now, his heartbeat slowed down with every passing second, as he chose to enjoy the moment that started to turn into something peaceful. Jongdae too was breathing steadily, matched with Baekhyun’s every exhale and inhale. Perfectly. 

  
It was soothing, and the sun would set anytime soon, the drop in the temperature together with the nice breeze helped to set the moment for them. It was certainly more than what best friends would feel, but Baekhyun didn’t want to think about that now. Baekhyun started to hum random sound, not even a particular song, just a tune that came out voluntarily from him. He was happy. He could feel Jongdae’s smile, his face was moving as he cuddled closer towards Baekhyun, as if they weren’t close enough already. 

  
But Baekhyun suddenly wanted to look at Jongdae, suddenly missed the galaxy Jongdae shown him before, so he detached his neck from Jongdae’s face and turned to look at him. 

  
“We can cuddle on that futon you know. This is a bit...exhibitionism..?” Baekhyun joked, his fingers softly removed Jongdae’s bang that was glued on his forehead. Jongdae gave him a shy smile, and returned to the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. 

  
“Few more minutes. You smell like home, I love it so much.”

  
Baekhyun didn’t want to dwell much on Jongdae’s words, Jongdae was probably just home sick hence the reason for his weird behavior. 

  
So they continued to cuddle there, as the skies getting darker, as if trying to blanket them with safety. They only had each other’s warmth to counter the cool breeze, and a little bit of heat probably from the vending machine. 

  
That was good enough.

* * *

“Kim Jongdae you fool.” Jongdae was cursing at himself, probably for a million times already collectively, since they returned from Yokohama last night. 

  
Both of them acted so chill with each other as if they didn’t just cuddle like a couple, in public, under the skies, on a wooden deck. No, best friends didn’t do that. 

  
They agreed to take it easy today, would only leave for Kamakura after brunch. He was buying brunch for the two of them, he did ask Baekhyun if he wanted to eat outside but Baekhyun refused, still too sleepy to go out. He wanted to cook, but they still hadn’t bought their rations and he didn’t want to disturb Baekhyun by asking about the Japanese instructions on the electric stove so he went out to buy food for them. It was already 10 am, and the weather was scorching hot in Fujisawa. He was queuing at a local restaurant which served great zaru soba as reported in a website, just a block away from their apartment. Well, they needed that cold noodles in this hot summer. 

  
He couldn’t stop thinking about that moment in Osanbashi Pier, the moment where he totally lost himself, just because Baekhyun was mock-proposing to him. He quietly climbed the stairs towards their floor, conflicted with himself on how to face Baekhyun. 

  
“I’m home.”

  
That was a habit of them, because Baekhyun watched too many anime and wanted the practice to be one of their dorm rules. Their dorm wasn’t really a home for Jongdae, but Baekhyun was home to him so he didn’t really mind saying it. 

  
“You’re home.” Baekhyun replied sleepily. He was sitting on the low dining table, totally Japanese style. Baekhyun was holding a mug of plain water and Jongdae knew Baekhyun woke up because of hunger. 

  
Jongdae’s heart was beating faster seeing Baekhyun like that. Messy hair, swollen cheeks and sleepy face with disheveled pajamas. Funny, he watched Baekhyun like this almost everyday but why must he felt differently today? Must be the after effect of yesterday. 

  
He gulped, Baekhyun was staring at him and somehow there was a thick tense engulfing them, the silence was too loud. He put the takeaway food on the table, slowly bent and folded his legs to sit opposite of Baekhyun. 

  
Baekhyun might notice the tense too, he could feel it, by the awkward hesitation Baekhyun had when he opened the plastic bag. 

  
“Zaru soba. You should be proud of me. I can order this just by pointing at the menu and gesturing two using my fingers.”

  
“They probably think you’re having a communication disorder.” Baekhyun replied, and somehow Jongdae was relieved to hear a nasty reply. 

  
Jongdae took out a bowl of zaru soba for him. “Watch me learn Japanese quickly. I’ll make more Japanese friends than you when this program end.”

  
Baekhyun snatched the bowl that Jongdae already took, didn’t feel like moving his limbs too much. He couldn’t get enough sleep last night, most of it was spent looking at Jongdae’s back who was sleeping peacefully on the futon beside him. He did some thinking, tried to sort his feelings but he still couldn’t decide on what to do next. 

  
“We should go cafe hunting here. I saw a lot of beautiful cafes with interesting menu.” Jongdae said, didn’t even get mad at Baekhyun. He was too used with it. 

  
But then he suddenly realized. Should he retaliate? Which one was the more natural choice as a best friend? To get back the bowl or to just let Baekhyun take it? Would Baekhyun think too much about his response or was he the one that was slowly losing his mind to even think about matters as simple as that? Baekhyun already started digging into the bowl, and Jongdae was glad since he was oblivious to Jongdae’s conflicted face. 

  
“Okay, cafe hunting date.” Baekhyun replied nonchalantly, Jongdae nearly spilled his soba. “Let’s go out every Sunday. Maybe we should go to Tokyo too.”

  
“Tokyo is scary. The subway is too complicated, not to mention the crowds.”

  
“You have me, I’m sure we’ll not get lost. Even if we do then I’m sure it’ll be fun too since I’m with you.”

  
Jongdae was speechless. He wasn’t the one that replied differently than usual, it was Baekhyun. 

  
“You disagree?” Baekhyun said, eyes on Jongdae. 

  
“No—I mean, yes, we can go to Tokyo too, when we have some free time during this program.” Why were they talking like this? This conversation was too polite for the two of them. 

  
Jongdae’s head was in full drive, it was weird now that he felt something else for Baekhyun. And now Baekhyun acted like this wasn’t helping him at all. 

  
“You should buy extra portion. This is extremely delicious.” Baekhyun said after he finished his bowl. “Thanks for the food! I’ll go shower first. Don’t want to be late for Kamakura.” He sorted the bowl inside the recycle bins and started to walk towards the bathroom. 

  
“Baekhyun.” Jongdae called out, he himself unsure of what he wanted to say, he just felt like he wanted to say something. “I haven’t say this yesterday...Thank you, and uh, sorry for yesterday. At the pier I mean. I’m feeling extra clingy there, probably the moment feels right too...yeah, maybe...maybe I need warmth and you’re warm...”

  
This was more like them. To just say whatever they felt, whatever they kept inside. But this also didn’t feel like them, with Jongdae still had a lot to say, but he couldn’t form the words. There were so many things he was afraid to face, he was afraid of Baekhyun, he was afraid of himself. 

  
Baekhyun just stood there, staring at Jongdae and now he wasn’t as oblivious as before, he noticed the stutters, he noticed the red blush on Jongdae’s cheeks and he noticed the change in the atmosphere. 

  
But Baekhyun didn’t want to stress Jongdae out. Baekhyun already noticed that funny feelings for Jongdae since they were at Korea. It get amplified here, when they literally had only each other, when it was clear to Baekhyun now what he truly felt for his best friend. He accepted it, there was no reason to deny it. Jongdae was a wonderful person, very kind and understanding too, a perfect human. A little bit harsh some times but Jongdae would quick to apologize. Just like now. 

  
Baekhyun could wait, he knew Jongdae was confused right now. He could show Jongdae too that he wanted more now, more than the title best friends. He wanted this beautiful person as his, and he was willing to wait if it was for Jongdae. 

  
So he smiled at Jongdae, genuinely from his heart, since Jongdae looked guilty and he didn’t like the guilty look. 

  
“I’m all yours, Jongdae. Anytime you want.”

* * *

Baekhyun took the time when Jongdae went to shower to call Chanyeol. 

  
He was determined to show Jongdae his feelings, but he didn’t have any idea on how to flirt with his own best friend.

  
Chanyeol probably would have some ideas since Chanyeol did try to hit on Jongdae during the first few months of knowing him before Jongdae rejected the tall guy. Tall guy wasn’t Jongdae’s taste apparently. 

  
Baekhyun panicked when he remembered that fact, but quickly felt relieved when he remembered that he was only 0.5cm taller than Jongdae. 

  
“Yes, Baekhyun, how can I help you?”

  
“I know you failed at it but teach me how to flirt with Jongdae.” Baekhyun said, he was standing outside of their apartment block, clearly wanted some privacy.   
Baekhyun could hear a few loud curses and loud gasps and more loud curses, he was ready for it so he distanced his phone from his ear for a while before putting it back on his ear. 

  
“Can I cry first because you finally accepted your feelings for him?” Chanyeol fake sobbed, maybe, if Chanyeol really cried Baekhyun would feel like a total loser since someone else realized his feelings before himself. 

  
“This is your fault anyway! If you didn’t snatch Jongdae often from me I’ll realize it sooner!”

  
“Okay, okay. Blame it all on me, but I daresay you just have to do the bare minimum. Jongdae likes you too, you guys are just two dumbest bros ever.”

  
“Why are you so sure?” Baekhyun asked, denying it inside. “Last time Jongdae talked about feelings he still like that new rich student from Hannam dong.”

  
“You talk as if Jongdae is some kind of gold digger.” Chanyeol chuckled. “He’s just as oblivious to his own feelings as you are to yours. Best friends, my foot. You guys are a couple even before I tried to flirt with Jongdae.”

  
Baekhyun was silent for a while. He did remember their previous years last night, to truly accept his feelings for Jongdae, and Baekhyun realized that even though he had Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, he liked to do personal things with Jongdae the most. And he favored Jongdae the most.

  
“Be yourself. Bicker with love. Just don’t be another person. And don’t overdo it too. He will think it’s another dare from me.” Chanyeol laughed. 

  
Be himself. 

  
Baekhyun could do that.

* * *

They arrived at Kamakura Station at 1 pm. 

  
Kamakura was different from Enoshima and Yokohama. It was a peaceful town with a classical charm, a very beautiful old town. The pamphlet recommended a lot of shrines and temples, but since they only had half a day, they decided to just go where they felt like going. 

  
Just outside of Kamakura Station, they were greeted by a big Torii gate, to welcome them to a shopping street, the Komachi Street. There were various restaurants and shops there, stalls selling street foods and even some cheap clothes. Even though Kamakura was classic, it was still crowded just like the other places they went before. Baekhyun took this chance to link his arm with Jongdae’s, not a new gesture, kind of unnecessary. But he wanted to do it anyway. 

  
Jongdae didn’t push him away, they just continued to stroll the streets like that. They tried sweet potato ice cream and bought a few sticks of colorful dango, and they ate happily while walking towards Tsuruoka Hachimangu, by just walking 500 m following the stretch of Komachi Street. 

  
Tsuruoka Hachimangu was huge, a complex of shrines and sub shrines, with a deep history attached to it. Baekhyun and Jongdae walked further inside after passing the main Torii gate, clearly in awe by the hugeness of the shrine. Baekhyun found a temizuya basin nearby, and tugged Jongdae towards the pavilion to purify themselves first.

  
“Water at shrine is always so refreshing.” Jongdae said as he washed his hands and rinsed his mouth at the temizuya basin. “Makes you feel like a good person.”

  
“You’re a good person.” Baekhyun replied him, already started his mission to court Kim Jongdae properly without freaking him out. 

  
“If I’m a good person then you’re a good person too.” Jongdae said, gave Baekhyun a blinding smile and slowly walked back towards the main track. 

  
**Kim Jongdae 1, Byun Baekhyun 0.**

  
There were huge crowds at the Lower Worship Hall, the Maiden, most of them were wearing colorful kimono. They were curious of what was going on so they gathered around the hall too. They noticed that a traditional wedding was currently being held, and they were excited to see the ceremony since it was their first time to witness a Shinto wedding. 

  
They were lucky, since the ceremony just started with the procession of the bride and bridegroom to the Maiden. It was truy unique, since the bridegroom was non Asian, maybe American, happily wearing a Shinto costume. 

  
They watched silently as a form of respect, together with the other crowds. It was rare to have a public Shinto wedding ceremony like this, so they stayed with the crowds until the end.

  
The ceremony was held in Japanese, there was a cute slang when the bridegroom talked Japanese which was so charming, but Baekhyun still couldn’t understand much what the priest and the bridegroom were talking about. But it was easy to understand the gesture; like the exchange of sake cups, the offerings to the gods from the couple and the exchange of rings. 

  
The ceremony ended with the couple drinking another cup of sake, and finally the family members gathered around to take pictures together. Baekhyun and Jongdae left, still couldn’t get over the wedding ceremony. “Now I understand why you want both modern and traditional weddings. Traditional wedding feels intimate, full of respect with each other.” Jongdae said, as they walked towards the steps to the Main Hall, the Hongu. 

  
“Yeah. Now I’m confident that I want a traditional wedding ceremony.” Baekhyun replied. 

  
“For the one that you proposed to me yesterday? The 30 year old us?”

  
**Kim Jongdae 2, Byun Baekhyun 0.**

  
They finally reached Hongu, and as usual, the view in Japan never fail to make them both speechless. They were blessed to have a continuously good weather since their arrival, since the skies were clear and they could see Kamakura’s surroundings along with the ocean and the blue skies together. Hongu itself was beautiful, the vermillion colored building stood so majestic and powerful there in front of them. 

  
They entered the Hongu, which only costed them 200 yen per person, since Jongdae wanted to pray inside the shrine. They watched the other prayers before them on exactly how to pray inside Hongu since they had never done this before. 

  
“Two bows, two claps, say your prayer silently then one bow again.” Baekhyun reminded Jongdae. “Want to go together?”

  
“Sure. Let’s go.” Jongdae whispered. 

  
They did their prayers, both silently wished for everything, and for each other. It felt extremely intimate to pray together, and it certainly gave a wonderful kind of peace inside their hearts. 

  
They exited the Hongu after giving their prayers, and Baekhyun now literally dragging and begging Jongdae to buy the fortune slip, the omikuji. 

  
“What if they are written in Japanese? We’ll never know about our luck even if we buy them.” Jongdae whined. He was actually afraid to know about his fortune. 

  
“No! They have English translations! I saw English words written on the omikuji they hung on that tree! We can at least understand English!” Baekhyun pleaded, there was no fun in buying fortune slip alone. 

  
“Why are you reading other people’s omikuji? A bad luck omikuji to begin with! It can rub on you, you know!” Jongdae scolded him, he was a bit paranoid with things concerning luck. People would hung omikuji containing bad luck on a tree’s branch or on rope, as a sign that they left the bad luck there and refused to bring it home. 

  
“I accidentally saw it! Come on, Jongdae! Let’s buy one!” Baekhyun pouted. 

  
“Okay, okay!”

  
Weird, because usually Baekhyun’s pout had no effect on Jongdae. But it worked perfectly fine today. 

  
They bought two omikuji and two ema, the ginkgo leaf’s shaped wishing plaques, courtesy of Baekhyun who loved those kind of things and loved to write his wishes. 

  
“What did you get?” Baekhyun asked a nervous Jongdae after he opened his omikuji. 

  
“Extremely good luck.” Jongdae said, his voice full of relief. 

  
“Me too! Let’s exchange then! You take care of mine then I’ll take care of yours!”

  
Jongdae thought for a while, before agreeing with the suggestion. “Sure. Please take care of me, Baekhyun, because my life and luck is in your care now.”

  
**Kim Jongdae 3, Byun Baekhyun 0**. 

  
They explored around Tsurugaoka Hachimangu for another 30 minutes before rushing off to head to their next stop, the Kotokuin Temple. The temple closed early, and they already spent 2 hours at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu alone. 

  
They boarded the train to Hase Station and quickly walked towards Kotokuin Temple. Luckily they still accepted visitors inside to visit the statue of the Great Buddha located inside the temple. The statue was 11 m tall, and the fact that it was sitting on the open air without any roof and shield was astonishing enough to anyone that saw it. 

  
It was hard to capture a picture of the Great Buddha as a whole when they were standing so close to the statue, so Jongdae slowly walked backwards to try fit in the image of statue in his camera. He wasn’t a skilled photographer, he didn’t know the trick so he just continued to walk backwards but he didn’t realize that he already reached the top of a probably 5 steps of stairs and stumbled down on the gravel surface. 

  
Baekhyun heard the fall and the sound of Jongdae’s groaning so he immediately looked beside him, only to notice that Jongdae was lying below the steps. 

  
“Seriously, why are you there?” He laughed heartily at Jongdae, but he walked fast towards Jongdae too to help him stood up. “Are you okay? Can you walk?”

  
Jongdae removed the tiny stones and dust from the back of his shirt after he managed to stand up, Baekhyun helped him dusted it away too. He checked his body for any injuries, he was fine, for now. “Yeah, I guess. It was painful since I fell on these fine gravels but other than that I’m good.”

  
Satisfied that Jongdae was truly okay, Baekhyun picked up Jongdae’s phone that was lying on the rocks near them, Jongdae must had accidentally dropped it during the fall. He looked at what Jongdae tried to capture and smiled at the picture. “At least you managed to capture the whole Great Buddha while you’re falling down the stairs.”

  
Jongdae took his phone and smiled with satisfaction. “Yeah, worth it.”

  
“Want to head back? I notice that most of the shops on the street already close when we arrived just now.” Baekhyun suggested. He did read on the Internet that most of the shops in Kamakura closed early, even before night came. 

  
Jongdae pouted and Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, he knew Jongdae had something else in mind. “I saw an interesting restaurant on our way to this temple. I don’t know the name, it’s written in Japanese words. Can we eat there first before heading back? We’ve been eating convenience store foods for dinner nonstop, I want to try something else.”

  
Baekhyun smiled at him and nodded, Jongdae was always an observant person. If only Jongdae observed him carefully too. “Let’s go then. I’m kinda starving too.”

  
They found the restaurant, Sometaro, and indeed it was an interesting place since most of the shops there were already closed but Sometaro looked like it just began to come alive. They served their foods in teppanyaki style, which meant the foods there were mostly grilled, and it brought them so much delight since most Koreans loved to grill their food. The eating place was situated at the first floor, and as they climbed up the stairs, they were greeted with a nice smell and lots of customers happily enjoying their food. 

  
Turned out the place was much more interesting than just some grilling. Sometaro was designed in traditional Japanese design, so they sat at a Japanese styled table, similar to Korean’s low table, overlooking the already dark street outside. A wide hotplate was placed on the middle of the table, and they were excited now to fill their bellies. As they read the menu given, both of them agreed to try to cook their own okonomiyaki, Japanese pancake which was cooked with various kinds of ingredients inside using a wheat-flour based batter. 

  
Baekhyun picked the ingredients for their okonomiyaki while Jongdae picked the meats that they wanted to grill just like that. 

  
They waited for a while after submitting their orders, and soon the waiters gave them the raw ingredients that waited to be grilled. 

  
“Do you believe in me?” Baekhyun asked, reading intently the instruction given on how to cook the okonomiyaki. They were sitting opposite of each other, easier to cook multiple stuffs on one hot plate. 

  
“Do it, Chef Byun.” Jongdae answered, he already started to grill some meat on the hotplate. 

  
Baekhyun mixed the ingredients for their okonomiyaki well; shrimps, squids, cabbages, raw egg, the flour and some other stuffs he already ordered earlier. Once he already satisfied with his work, he carefully placed the mixture on top of the hotplate. He made another one and repeated the steps, so that they would have enough for two. “Wait for six minutes they said.” He set the timer given on the table, too afraid to mess up their food. 

  
“Here, taste one.” Jongdae gave him a piece of already cooked meat and Baekhyun took it with his chopsticks. 

  
“Nice. Nice, nice, nice! Japan is nice!” Baekhyun chewed happily, at this rate he would even consider to move in to Japan. 

  
They continued to eat any already cooked meat until the timer sounded, a sign that they needed to flip the half cooked okonomiyaki. 

  
“Wow, I’m nervous.” Baekhyun held the two spatulas and put both of it under the okonomiyaki. “Okay, here it goes. One, two, three!” He flipped it fast, but somehow some cabbages flew and fell on Jongdae’s t-shirt. 

  
“Baekhyun!” Jongdae screamed.

  
“Whoops. Sorry.” Baekhyun said unapologetically, tried his best not to laugh at Jongdae. “You do the other one, then.” He handed the spatulas at Jongdae, who took the spatulas from him confidently. 

  
“Watch and learn.” Jongdae scraped the bottom of the okonomiyaki using the spatulas and flipped it as fast as he could.

  
Same. Cabbages and small squids flew towards Baekhyun’s direction, and now both of them were laughing hard. Literally shared the same one brain cell. 

  
They managed to make edible okonomiyaki anyway, and both happily chatted while enjoying their dinner.

* * *

“Jongdae, you’re limping.” Baekhyun said worriedly. He already noticed it when they were on their way to Sometaro, that Jongdae walked slower than usual. It must be the effect from the fall at Kotokuin Temple. 

  
“I fell on my left calf, we folded our leg for an hour while eating so it stings but don’t worry, I still can walk fine.” They were now outside of Sometaro, ready to take the train back to Fujisawa. 

  
“No, you’re limping and you’re having a hard time to even climb down the stairs.” Baekhyun quickly stood in front of Jongdae and bent down his body. “Come.”

  
Jongdae was confused. “Come what?”

  
“Hop on. I’m giving you a piggyback ride.”

  
“No? The station is just 200 m away—“

  
Baekhyun stood again just to snatch Jongdae’s right arm and pulled it on top of his shoulder while bending his body back, giving Jongdae no choice but to swing his other arm around Baekhyun’s left shoulder, hugging him from behind.   
Baekhyun carefully held both of Jongdae’s thighs and slowly stood while familiarized himself with both of their weights on him. 

  
“Wow, you’re light.” Baekhyun walked carefully, afraid to trip on anything in the dark. 

  
“We have the same weight, but you and Chanyeol went to gym, I’m not.” Jongdae replied, glad that Baekhyun couldn’t see his face right now because he was sure his face was red due to shyness. 

  
“Are you saying that I’m stronger than you? You have firm thighs tho.” Baekhyun squeezed Jongdae’s thighs which he currently grabbed onto, just to tease him. He liked this, the warmth on his back, in the form of the person that he liked. 

  
“Stupid! Don’t do that! You know I’m ticklish!” Jongdae slapped Baekhyun’s shoulder due to extreme embarrassment, and that caused Baekhyun to lose his footing a bit since he was laughing at Jongdae so Jongdae quickly hugged Baekhyun back. Thankfully the street was empty, shops were mostly closed, and Kamakura now felt deserted to the point that Jongdae didn’t feel wrong to yell at Baekhyun. 

  
“At least I’m clever enough to tell people that I’m in pain when I’m indeed in pain.” Baekhyun said after readjusting his hold on Jongdae’s thighs. Properly. Not for fun. 

  
“It isn’t that painful, I still can tolerate it.”

  
“You’re clearly in pain, and I don’t want to fight. I’m so happy today so let’s not fight.” Baekhyun said honestly. 

  
“Why are you happy?” Jongdae asked, chin slowly rested at the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. The one that he kissed yesterday. 

  
“This place is a symbol of happiness. It gives me hope. Like just now, a foreigner marrying a Japanese woman, even knew how to talk Japanese.” Baekhyun replied, loving the warmth puffs on his neck. “Yesterday we saw Japanese couple wearing western wedding costume. Today we saw a union of two people from different roots, happily doing a Shinto ceremony. Love really transcends everything.”

  
“Your prayers must have already work. God of Love probably already spelled something on you now since you’re talking about love positively like this.”

  
“Love is positive. It brings the positivity in us. Change us in a good way. From strangers to lovers, from enemies to lovers.” Baekhyun paused for a while, and Jongdae could feel the shift in the air. “Now I’m certain it can change best friends to lovers too.”

  
**Kim Jongdae TKO, Byun Baekhyun won.**

* * *

New day came and they agreed to take a rest for today, to give time for Jongdae’s leg to heal. He could walk slowly, but it wasn’t enough to convince Baekhyun that he was fit to go anywhere. Not when exploring in Japan required them to walk around so much. 

  
And certainly not when Jongdae couldn’t look at Baekhyun in the eyes. Not after what Baekhyun just said last night. There was a hidden meaning behind those words, and Jongdae couldn’t help but to feel that it was directed to him. 

  
They just finished eating their brunch, Baekhyun bought it from a nearby cafe and now they were doing their own things. Jongdae was watching Netflix from his handphone and Baekhyun was watching a game live stream from his laptop. Well, it actually translated into Jongdae wasn’t ready to talk with Baekhyun without sorting his jumbled thoughts first and Baekhyun respected Jongdae’s needs to think without any distractions. Hence they just stayed in silence, only talked when it was for necessary stuffs. 

  
Baekhyun didn’t regret his words, he wanted Jongdae to know and take the hint. He was almost sure Jongdae did feel something for him, and he would gladly to stay beside Jongdae whenever Jongdae wanted him. 

  
But it wasn’t the same case for Jongdae. He felt suffocated now, his thoughts were growing louder and louder that he was afraid Baekhyun could hear them. He really needed some time alone from Baekhyun, to talk with himself, before he could finally talk to Baekhyun. 

  
“I’m going out for some fresh air.” Jongdae was standing now, grabbing a few of his personal stuffs with him. 

  
“Are you sure you can walk just fine? Want me to accompany you?” Baekhyun asked, concerned. He knew that look, that _I need some personal time alone_ look. 

  
“No, it’s okay, I’m fine. I’ll text you if I’m lost or anything.” Jongdae gave him a smile, but his eyes didn’t meet Baekhyun’s. “Will be back soon.”

  
Jongdae exited the door, and Baekhyun could only sighed.

* * *

It was now 4 pm, Jongdae already went out for 3 hours and Baekhyun was getting more antsy since he couldn’t reach Jongdae at all. Jongdae’s phone was off, and Baekhyun cursed all available curses that he knew in any languages now, worried beyond words. Jongdae usually turned off his phone when he needed to think, dramatic asshole. 

  
He couldn’t wait any longer so he took his necessary stuffs with him and left the apartment. He had no idea where to find Jongdae, everything was purely based on his instinct now. 

  
Jongdae couldn’t read Japanese and now that he turned off his phone, he couldn’t search for help online to go somewhere new. So most probably Jongdae would go to a place that he was already familiar with. 

  
A place that would bring him peace. 

  
Baekhyun could narrow that down to a few places, but one place really flashed with extreme warning in his brain right now, Baekhyun literally sprinted towards the train station.

* * *

And Baekhyun was always right about Jongdae. 

  
Jongdae was here, sitting peacefully beside a vending machine on the wooden deck of Osanbashi Pier. 

  
It felt like a repetition of that day. Blue skies slowly growing darker as the sun slowly setting down, the strong wind and the peaceful sea. Literally no one was hanging out at the deck now, it just them and the open air. 

  
“Having fun?” Baekhyun mocked, out of breath since he ran so hard from the station to the pier, angered brewing steadily inside of him. 

  
Jongdae was startled and quickly turned around. Baekhyun was standing a few meters from him, sweating hard despite the wind. 

  
“Baekhyun. What—how—what are you doing here?” Jongdae wanted to stand up but he did it too quickly, his left leg suddenly stung and he fell back on the wooden floor, groaning. 

  
“You fool!” Baekhyun immediately ran towards him and helped Jongdae to sit properly. “Can you take it slow? Your leg isn’t healing yet! And this! Are you out of your mind? Yokohama?! With that leg of yours?!And you dare to turn off your phone?! At this place where no one is around?! You want to die?!” Baekhyun’s voice was getting louder with every word that he threw at Jongdae, couldn’t even bother to hide his frustrations and worries for Jongdae. 

  
“You found me longer than the duration of Finding Nemo.” He folded his right leg and stretched out his left leg, eyes looking at the space between his legs.   
Jongdae’s reply made Baekhyun gaped at him, blinked his eyes for a few times because he couldn’t believe his ears. 

  
“I’m sorry but you can check your phone and you’ll see that I’ve been texting you non stop 30 minutes after you left and then I texted you on 4.15 pm writing _fuck this Jongdae, I’m going to find you_ and now it’s 5.30 pm and that’s all you have to say to me?!” Baekhyun’s veins could pop anytime now. 

  
Jongdae now staring at Baekhyun who was sitting close in front of him, he stared hard. “Is that all? Don’t you have anything else to say to me?” 

  
Baekhyun closed his mouth this time, eyes searching deep into the galaxy within the eyes that he was currently looking at, the galaxy that Jongdae had once again gave him permission to probe inside. 

  
“I like you.”

  
It was easy, the way he said it to Jongdae, as if he was saying something so obvious. Well, it probably was obvious now. 

  
“I like you, a lot. Not as best friend. As a man. Like, I really like you. Noticed it for a while, maybe a year. I tried to ignore it, thought maybe it’s just some kind of attachment. But now that we’re alone here, everything gets clearer. I accept that it isn’t an attachment, it’s a real feeling.”

  
There, it was easy. Baekhyun said it honestly, as he did every time he had a serious conversation with Jongdae. 

  
Jongdae still staring at him, although now his eyes were nervous, clearly trying to form a sentence for Baekhyun. 

  
And suddenly Baekhyun panicked. What if Jongdae wanted to reject him? He was so sure that Jongdae liked him too to the point that he didn’t think of rejection. What if he read everything wrong? What if he was just another Chanyeol 2.0?

  
“But if you—“ Baekhyun quickly wanted to say anything, anything to ease his sudden panic attack but Jongdae was quick to cut his words. 

  
“I like you too. I just realized it, I’m sorry, but I do like you, more than I should.”

  
Baekhyun frowned. 

  
“I don’t know how to word it nicely. You...you always created butterflies effect in my stomach, numerous times. But I thought it was normal, to feel excited because of you. Because you’re an exciting person. But these few days you sent a whole zoo in my stomach, I can’t hold it any longer. I know it’s the sign of something.” Jongdae said shyly, he lowered his gaze immediately. 

  
“Oh God, can I kiss you now?” Baekhyun bluntly asked, Jongdae was too cute and he couldn’t believe this was finally happening. 

  
“What?”

  
“Can I kiss you? You know, as confirmation? Since best friends couldn’t kiss each other on mouth, can I try it with you? If you feel like you want to puke after that kiss then maybe you don’t like me, maybe that’s just your stomachache.”

  
Jongdae quickly punched Baekhyun’s arm, face already red. 

  
“Can I, Jongdae?” 

  
It was honest, Baekhyun’s eyes were honest and honestly, Jongdae want it too. He nodded, and Baekhyun took that cue to sit closer, seated at the empty space between Jongdae’s legs and folded his legs on top of Jongdae’s thighs, careful not to press the injured calf. 

  
It was awkward, and they kept on giggling to hide their embarrassment, since both didn’t have any idea on how to start. Both acted like this was their first kiss. 

  
They stared at each other’s for a while, and that gave Baekhyun the reassurance that Jongdae could, no, would never run away.

  
Baekhyun put his arms around Jongdae’s tiny waist and slowly moving his face closer towards Jongdae’s. 

  
He tilted his face slightly, and that was when he pressed his lips on Jongdae’s lower lip. He pulled away almost immediately, too overwhelmed with his feelings. 

  
“I can’t confirm my feelings for you if you’re just pressing lips with me and not kissing me properly, Baekhyun. More.” Jongdae whined, tugging Baekhyun’s t-shirt lightly and that made Baekhyun laughed. 

  
“Okay, okay. More.” Baekhyun captured Jongdae’s lower lip properly now, smiling into the kiss. 

  
It was perfect, with Jongdae’s fingers now around his neck. Baekhyun was too deep with this guy now, he knew there was no turning back for him, he already fell deeper for Jongdae. 

  
Baekhyun opened up his mouth, wanting to taste more of Jongdae. Jongdae responded to his every kiss and lick, every touch was extremely intoxicating and it was hard now to resist. 

  
Baekhyun pulled away first, again, he needed to stop, he needed to make sure Jongdae was okay. He rested his forehead on Jongdae’s, hands cupping Jongdae’s cheeks, eyes searching for Jongdae’s. 

  
“Do you want to puke on me?” Baekhyun joked, but he was actually quite nervous of Jongdae’s answer. 

  
“No. I want more.” Jongdae answered honestly. 

  
“Only if you agree to be mine.”

  
Jongdae sealed his answer by initiating the next kiss. 

  
They might be putting a hold on their little trips around Kanagawa, but they were moving on steadily with their feelings. 

  
They were best friends and now, they were also each other’s lover, and there was nothing wrong with that. 

  
They were happy with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t have the slightest idea of baekchen’s thoughts on beliefs so anything I wrote here is purely for this fic only.  
This is just another lame itinerary of small parts in Kanagawa featuring baekchen lol.  
Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
